oh boy, a squirrel! how can an animal so ubiquitous continue to overwhelm us with cuteness every day? i find myself impulsively greeting them (“hey there, fatty, got yourself a nut? nut-nut-nut?”)in a ridiculous voice, then looking around to make sure nobody heard me.

apparently, they often *pretend* to bury a nut – dig, stick nose into hole, cover hole, pat down dirt with paws – in a couple of different places before *actually* burying it, just to throw off any scavengers who might be watching.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, when my family first moved to the mid-Atlantic Coast, my father decided that we had to visit all the historical spots. So we trekked down to DC, where we walked around outside the White House, but never actually went in. Outside, we encountered a woman feeding a skwerl part of her muffin. She promptly handed the muffin to me. I sat on the ledge nearby and skwerl came over to sit in my lap and eat cranberry muffin from my hand for about 15 minutes. That was the most interesting part of the trip.

Lol my Mom fes the squirrels in her yard all the time. They know when she comes home for work and wakes up everything.They even try to come in the house sometimes its creepy,but cute I’m going to have to send this to her and tell her she better watch out this may happen to her!

When I was a student in Halls of Residence, I woke up one morning, went to the kitchen, opened the bread-bin, took out my white sliced loaf…little squirrel was in there. Not just in the kitchen. Not just in the breadbin. In the bread.

So there’s this beach town near Monterey (home of the aquarium with the OTTERZ) that has a plethora of ground skwerls, which I guess are sort of like chipmunks? I was there about fifteen years ago, when I was but a wee lass, and bent down to tie my shoe… and ELEVENTY BILLION of them actually swarmed all over me. Somewhere right on that fine, fine line between squeeelicious and really, really scary. As a growed-up CO aficionado, totally squee. As a ten year old, kind of wiggins-inducing.

Rafael – I’ve had interesting experiences with the Harvard Yard squirrels, too. Back in college, a friend and I took some peanuts to feed them. Most were fine, but then we were chased by a KILLER SQUIRREL – he was huge, and we literally had to run away from him – he just kept coming! We saw him terrorizing a smaller squirrel, too – what a bully!

There have been problems with squirrels in a city park near me. Apparently parents let their kiddies walk around with food in their hands and the squirrels “attack” them to get the food. Now, the parents want the city to “eradicate” the squirrels to protect the children. Now, I don’t want to sound anti-child, but why don’t the parents stop feeding their children at the park? It seems like that would solve the problem without killing fuzzy little animals.

Whilst camping when I was a wee person, I was sitting up against the base of a tree.. eating ..of all things… peanuts. Out of nowhere a squirrely squirrel came saunty sauntering up.. Sat on my lap, and began to eat with me. It was amazazing! (a’la Napolean Dynamite)…

A bunch of years ago, the old GRUMPY man who lived in the apartment right above me, was ALWAYS ALWAYS complaining to the apartment manager about the squirrels in the attic/roof, and the noise they were always making.
So one day, he opens the bathroom cabinet under his sink, and evidently, the squirrels had managed to dig their way down through the attic/roof area through the walls, and had dug their way into his bathroom cabinet. When he opened the cabinet door that day, there was a fuzzy skwerlie waiting there, looking at him.
Boy did he ever b*tch to the apartment management about THAT!
I was jealous because I would have LOVED opening up MY bathroom cabinet finding a skwerlie there! (My kitties probably would have loved it too…&:o)

He’s a Fuller Brush-tail salesman:
“Hellooo anybody home?
Well hello Miss, is your mother home? What? Wellll, you look so young! Now, I want to ask you a question. How would you like it if I was the last salesman to ever knock on your door? It can be true. Fuller Brush-tail has made moi their Rep of the Year. See? (swishing tail) This means savings for you. Yes, today only, you too can have a brush-tail of your own, for peanuts! Literally.

pyrit let’s all hail pyrit,!!!!!!!!!!!! thats perfect now I’ll new look at another fuller brush without laughing out LOUD!!!!!!!! I just got done fighting with my stepmonster and I needed something to make me laugh, thanks to pyrit and always to cute overload for making smile.

*laughs* Looks like we’ve all had cute/funny/somewhat scary run-ins with the fluff-tailed cuties.
But here’s my favorite sqwerl story – I don’t know if it’s true of not, but I’ve seen some pretty tough little critters, so I totally believe this could happen. Still – True or not, it’s hilarious!http://www.valkyrieriders.com/articles/funny_ride_home.htm

at the Rhododendron Gardens here in Stumptown, the squirrels are pretty bold (not as bold as the ones that live on college campuses, but close) and we like to feed them peanuts. if you hold the peanut out, the squirrels will come up to you and take it from your fingers. and if you don’t let go right away, they’ll put their little paws up on your fingers and puuuuuuuush your hand away while puuuuulllllling back on the nut with their teeth. it’s hi-lar-i-ous!

I still remember the first time I read that one, Kelly Mc – Every time I re-read it I end up not being able to breathe for a few moments, and the bunnies get confused because I’m laughing too hard to explain myself.
“Scottish attack squirrel of death” is one of my favorite phrases!

Squirrels are EVIL! They suck you in with their cute nose twitches and fuzzy tails and their bouncy-bounce scampers, and then one day you’re just walking to class and BAM! Old man squirrels comes flying out of a garbage can and attacks you! (Happened to a friend. I ran down her shirt… on the inside.)

I have a tree outside my window, and regularly watch the squirrels running up and own the branches. The other day, sitting here on my laptop, and noticed a squirrel on one of the higher branches that overlooks my room. I sat there watching him, and he sat there watching me. For about 45 minutes…. 😦 I’m scared hes going to come back and steal my computer or something……

Just remembered Eddie Izzard:
(He does it much better)
“And squirrels always eat nuts with two hands, always two hands, and occasionally, they stop and go, “Gasp!”, as if they’re thinking, “Did I leave the gas on? No! I’m a *bleep*ing squirrel!”

A man hears a knock at their apartment door. When he opens it, there’s a little squirrel in the hallway with his little hands folded neatly on his chest looking up at the man. The man is turned around, calling out towards the kitchen, “Edna, do we have any nuts?”

I was once mugged by a squirrel in Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan. She was a nursing Mama Squirrel & was sitting on ground near me, so I gave her a couple of bits of bagel. Then she got on bench next to me and started SHRIEKING until I handed over the remainder of my breakfast! I am absolutely certain that if I hadn’t give it to her, she would have taken it and left me for dead.

katherine: That’s how I usually read this stuff, but this morning, NO! Couldn’t help myself. Read Crazed’s story and couldn’t stop laughing out loud. Emphasis on the “loud” part. I’m still laughing… you all are on top of your game this morning.

Crazed – you got me too, like katherine,at work so I’m trying not to laugh out loud, so I’m sitting here shaking with tears coming out of my eyes. Thank god I’m alone in the cubicle today… Gotta share that one…

ok, I’m fully aware our coverlords have real jobs and lives, so I’m not compaining.
What I am saying: it’s almost 11 on Friday and I feel like this squirrel: where’s my new post! hand it over! I’m jonesing for some cute! etc. (My cats point out they are providing live-streaming cuteness, what are they chopped liver? and can they have some chopped liver while I’m at it?)

Peeps are begging and squirming. Beware, we have entered the doldrums. The Frosty wind is gone. Capt. Theo is locked in his quarters. The rum is all gone. Prepare for mutiny or abandon all hope. Might as well throw yerselves overboard now afore ye all go insane.

Pyrit — you got me so upset (the rum is all gone????) that I had to try 4 or 5 times to spell useta! Ack! Please tell me there’s still puddin’ left!!! If I can’t have new cute, at least grant me a leetle bit ‘o’ puddin!

We have a huge old avocade tree out back.
It was started from a seed in the 60’s and planted outback.

Evidently that is not how you get avocado trees that actually make avocados.
So this gigantic tree only ever makes about a dozen avocados a year.
But they are perfectly good avocados.
Until the squirrels pick them, stone hard, eat out a hunk and drop them.

But while that is evil, it isn’t the nasty, evil squirrel story.

The avocado tree overhangs the neighbor’s roof, about five feet up from it, and off to the side.
The Evil Squirrels used to lure my idiot cat up into the tree, and then jump back and forth to the roof.

Being squirrels, of course, they could launch out across the gap, three stories up.
My poor cat, though, wasn’t even much of a climber.
But eventually the little squirrelly neder-neders would get to him, and he’d jump.

About a dozen times.
(I said it was our idiot cat.)

He wouldn’t come home for dinner, and we’d call and call, and eventually we’d see him all pitiful up on the roof.

Then we’d have to throw a plank between their roof and my bedroom window, and talk a phobic cat into running across it.

Try explaining that to potential cstsitters.

And the squirrels watched the whole thing from the trees — I swear — laughing.

One of the many reasons my kitteh stays inside – da squirrelz. It’s okay for the puppeh, she can’t climb the trees after them, but I imagine kitteh would be in a whole buncha trouble if I let her go after them.

4 U Meg – (Thx 4 all teh Cute)
(Cliff Claven voice) “Eh wait just a minute Meggie, I’m not so sure your commentary is what you call seasonally accurate there. It’s a little known fact only the red fescue will thrive at your higher elevations as it tolerates your colder winters there. What I’m seeing growing in the background is definitely your common fescue variety, as mail carriers well know, section 48-chapter 3A, is typically sown in the warm lower regions of the lower 48. Er and would there not indeed be snow if indeed it was winter there, if you know what I mean.”

So. This reminds me of the time that my dad let the roof fall into serious disrepair, and we had squirrels in the attic.

I woke up one morning to hear frantic digging, and I looked up into my ceiling and saw a hole in it. And then, right before my very eyes, the squirrel tripped in its own hole, and its foot got stuck, and it started screeching. So I had to get up out of bed, and push its foot back up out of my room and into the attic.

It also reminds me of the time my husband’s idiot cat tried to climb up on the window sill and ended up tearing a hole in the screen, climbing through it and getting stuck between the screen and the jalousie window.

Oh it’s all cute and good until you come home one day and there is a hole in your screen, little muddy footprints on your counter, granola everywhere, and that expensive sourdough loaf you just bought has been nibbled! I honestly couldn’t open that window for another year because he kept trying to break in whenever it was open and the tasty smell of boutique bakry sourdough was luring him to dine in my kitchen.